In the retail merchandising of cakes, pastries and the like, it is a common practice to package such items in containers which protect the entire item from contamination. In the usual case, the baked good is placed on a plate or dish constructed of foil, paper or fiberboard and placed in a container, often a cardboard box.
It is well known that the overall appearance of a particular product often provides the motivation necessary for the consumer to purchase it. As is often the case in today's competitive marketplace, products fairly equivalent in quality find themselves positioned side-by-side on the retailer's shelf. If the appearance of the container is pleasing or the article itself is attractively displayed it can and, often does, induce the consumer to purchase the item so packaged.
Due to their pleasing appearance, as well as other desirable features, plastic containers have found increased acceptance in the marketplace. Such containers generally employ a cover formed from a transparent material to permit visual inspection of the packaged item of food. Since the economies of disposable packaging demand a lightweight material for the container, many containers do not offer the rigidity necessary to protect the article contained within. Moreover, standard means of closure are often difficult to provide in these applications, with stapling, tape and the like sometimes employed to overcome the shortcomings of certain container designs.
A large number of containers have been developed for the producers and distributors of food. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,246,695 discloses a container for cakes, pies and similar articles of food. The containers are formed with relation to the article of food for which they are to be used, providing a dish with reinforcing ribs for containing the article of food and a flexible, removable transparent cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,104 discloses a flexible container molded from a plastic material, such as polyethylene. The container comprises two container members adapted to be releasably joined together around an outer annular edge thereof in a substantially sealing relation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,902 discloses a cake cover designed to be detachably secured to a corrugated cake base for packaging a cake therein. The cake cover includes a side wall consisting of a plurality of vertically extending small ribs and a plurality of vertically extending large ribs interspersed among the small ribs, both sets of ribs being spaced outwardly from an inner peripheral boundary defined by the intersection of adjacent ribs, and a relatively rigid dome portion designed to enclose a cake mounted on the corrugated cake base.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,115 discloses a packaging container for shipping and displaying pies consisting of a shockabsorbing base shell of concave form which receives and supports a pie pan in such a manner that shocks are not readily transmitted. A transparent convex cover is provided which snaps onto the base shell and grips the flange or rim of the pan. The base shell and the cover are complementarily formed so that the container assemblies can be stacked without the likelihood of being displaced laterally, the shell of one assembly resting on and interfitting with the cover of the assembly next below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,452 discloses the combination of a domed cover for a container wherein the cover has an outwardly biased flange designed to flex inward to snap-lock disposition with an inwardly biased rim of the underlying container, and a skirt portion formed intermediate the flange and the walls of the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,058 discloses a food packaging cover for use with a compatible tray. The cover includes a top section, a wall section, a shoulder section interconnecting the top section and the wall section and a bottom peripheral edge formation designed to lockably engage the tray. The wall section is formed from a repeating pattern of furrows which enhance the strength of the cover. The interconnecting shoulder section is formed from triangular flats interspaced by gusset members to effect substantial uniform distribution to the wall section of a load placed on the top section.
While the aforementioned containers generally meet the requirements for which they were designed, a need still exists for a container which provides the strength and rigidity necessary to protect a baked good or other article placed therein, while also providing a closure means which is both secure and easy to use.